The Minister of Water and Sanitation's recent water announcement of water restrictions brought home the criticality of South Africa's water scarcity - prolonged drought conditions have meant many of the country's major dams are emptying faster than they can be refilled. Let's explore some of the critical challenges that South Africa's large municipalities face and propose considerations that need to be taken.

TDS Projects Construction will build a 13km tailing pipeline at one of the largest nickel reserves in South Africa - the Nkomati Nickel Mine. The reserve has an estimated 408.6-million tonnes of ore grading containing an approximate 1.35-million tonnes of nickel metal. The pipeline will connect to the cross valley tailings storage facility at Nkomati's Onverwacht site.

The development of shipping containers in the 1950s transformed the face of the transport industry, but no-one realised at that time that it would take the building scene by storm some years later. In 1998 the concept emerged in South Africa when Simon's Town High School required a new hostel and was provided 40 used shipping containers by Safmarine which were ultimately used to construct a hostel housing 120 scholars. At that time it was the largest shipping container building in the world.

The fire at Grenfell Tower has catapulted high-rise social housing into the public consciousness, in a way not seen since the 1960s. Back then, high-rise tower blocks represented a new vision of social progress. They were greeted with hope and optimism by housing officials, architects and town planners across the UK. But now, the mood has turned to one of bitterness, anger and fear. Over the years, most of these so-called "villages in the sky" have become concrete containers for society's poorest and neediest people.

In one of the major unlisted real-estate transactions of 2017, Barloworld, Atterbury and African Rainbow Capital have partnered as co-investors in the redevelopment of the prime Barlow Park Campus, located at 180 Katherine Street, Sandton.

Africa's vast land mass and rich natural and mineral resources make it strategically important and an increasingly significant global player. It is also a dynamic young continent: about 60% of its residents are aged below 25.

Liquid gold has been discovered at the University of Cape Town. It comes in the form of urine, which engineering students have transformed into fertiliser and bricks. Now UCT says urine from its urinals has the potential to produce six tonnes of fertiliser a year - twice the amount it uses on its sports fields.